Ag-gag laws

Ag-gag laws are laws intended to prevent whistleblowers from exposing animal cruelty on farms. Bills to ban photographing or videotaping farms without the farmers' consent have been proposed or passed in Iowa, Florida, and Minnesota in 2011. Slow Food USA has begun a campaign to oppose these laws.

Florida
In Florida, Senate Bill 1246 "prohibits a person from entering onto a farm and making any audio record, photograph, or video record at the farm without the owner's written consent." The bill was written "at the behest of Wilton Simpson of Pasco County, whose Simpson Farms produces 21 million eggs annually for Florida’s second-largest egg seller, Tampa Farm Service, Inc." The bill was written by Sen. Jim Norman, R-Tampa.

Iowa
In Iowa, Senate File 431 and House File 589 prohibit anyone from producing, possessing, or distributing a record of a “visual or audio experience occurring at [an] animal facility.” The House bill, which passed March 17, 2011, was originally introduced by Rep Annette Sweeney. Sweeney operates a family cattle operation and she is the former Executive Director of the Iowa Angus Association. In the Senate, the bill was initially introduced by Tom Rielly. One of his top campaign contributors in 2008 was the Iowa Farm Bureau.

Minnesota
In Minnesota, House File No. 1369 is the bill that would ban photos and videos at livestock facilities. (The bill is S.F. 1118 in the Minnesota State Senate. ) The bill " targets anyone who documents an “image or sound” of animal suffering in a sweeping list of “animal facilities,” including factory farms, animal experimentation labs, and puppy mills." It bans:
 * "Animal facility interference:" Producing "a record which reproduces an image or sound occurring at the animal facility" without the owner's consent. Additionally, this provision targets those who “possess or distribute a record which produces an image or sound occurring at the animal facility.”
 * "Animal facility tampering:" Bans taking animals from a facility or "disrupting" the operations of a livestock facility.
 * "Animal facility fraud:" Targets undercover investigators and whistleblowers who obtain access to an animal facility by “false pretense” (i.e. taking a job at a livestock operation in order to obtain undercover video).

"The bill also includes parallel provisions for “crop operation interference,” “crop operation tampering,” and “crop operation fraud." Presumably, the provisions about crop operation tampering target activists who might destroy genetically modified crops, a tactic common in Europe but uncommon in the United States.

H.F. 1369 was authored by six Republicans, several of whom have ties to the agriculture industry:
 * Rep. Rod Hamilton, farmer and past president of the Minnesota Pork Producers
 * Rep. Dean Urdahl
 * Rep. Paul Anderson, farmer
 * Rep. Tony Cornish
 * Rep. Greg Davids, farm owner
 * Rep. Bob Dettmer

In the Senate, the sponsors are:
 * Sen. Doug Magnus, farmer
 * Sen. Rod Skoe, farmer
 * Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen
 * Sen. Dan Sparks

Slow Food USA Campaign
To challenge the so-called "ag-gag" laws, Slow Food USA asked its members to become the "farmarazzi," visiting farms, chatting with the farmer about the proposed bills, and then taking and posting pictures of the farm on Slow Food USA's Facebook page. Additionally, Slow Food USA asked members and supporters to sign their petition opposing the bills.


 * "We live in a time when we’re not always aware of where our food comes from and how it grows. The bipartisan legislators in Iowa, Florida, and Minnesota who’ve proposed these laws charge that unapproved photos and videos misrepresent the realities of farming and damage the public perception of our nation’s food producers. But pictures don’t lie. Inhumane and unhealthy conditions are present in our food system, and keeping that information from the public won’t make them go away. We must come together nationally to stop this dangerous precedent of suppressing outrage against bad farming practices by suppressing the public’s right to see what they’re eating.


 * "Even more outrageous is that the pending laws apply to photos of all farms—even those upholding good, clean, and fair farming practices. So how can we convince these legislators that they’re wrong? By sending a petition to the key legislators in each state, and also by flooding their offices with photos of real farms, submitted by people like you, from all around the country.  Let’s show those lawmakers that we, the Farmarazzi, are taking a stand to safeguard our right to know what goes on behind closed barn doors."

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * Rod Hamilton

External Articles

 * Goats, pigs, cows, farm dogs ready for their close-ups, Slow Food USA, May 4, 2011.
 * Tom Laskawy, "Little piggies, crawling in the dirt: Minnesota reps behind ag-gag bill have factory-farm ties," Grist, April 28, 2011.
 * Shari Danielson, "Why Don't Minnesota Lawmakers Want to Talk About Proposed Law Against Videotaping Inside Animal Facilities?," Simple Good and Tasty, April 28, 2011
 * Mark Bittman, "Who Protects the Animals?," New York Times, April 26, 2011.
 * Tom Laskawy, "Minnesota next up to pass law banning undercover farm videos," Grist, April 13, 2011.
 * "Livestock Farms Could Be Off Limits to Photos," Morning Edition, NPR, April 13, 2011.
 * Will Potter, "Minnesota Bill Targets Anyone Who Exposes an “Image or Sound” of Animal Suffering at Factory Farms, Puppy Mills," Green is the New Red, April 6, 2011.
 * Will Potter, "Iowa and Florida Ag-Industry Bills Target Animal Cruelty Investigations," Green is the New Red, March 29, 2011.
 * Wayne Pacelle, "Lights, Camera, Cover Up," Civil Eats, March 23, 2011.
 * Brett Ader, Egg producer requested Norman’s farm-photo felony bill; similar legislation pending in Iowa, Florida Independent, March 17, 2011.
 * Tom Laskawy, "Factory Farms Another week, another attempt to shield factory farms from public scrutiny, Grist, March 14, 2011.